It's officially the first anniversary of Our Ghosts Return! Woooo! Unfortunately I couldn't put something special together like a double update or anything, but I'm sure getting the next chapter is fun enough. =D. So, yeah, hope you enjoy it, and here's to the rest of the story! No idea how long it will take to finish, but finish it will and I hope you'll all enjoy it!

Akio

"Mum?"

"You're not supposed to be here, I thought you were going to stay with a schoolfriend…"

"I…"

I blinked, and looked at the other adults behind her again. The diminutive blond woman looked a bit like Akagi, something in the face structure I couldn't quite pin down. There was a man who was also blond,-though of a brighter, more golden shade- and I quickly realised that he was Eizo Amai, who had been at New Hope's Peak. The security man.

"You managed to slip that one past me, didn't you?"

Before I could formulate an appropriate reply to Mum, Otsuka clapped my shoulder, making me jump. I startled and looked at her, but she'd already stepped away from me, and was riffling in her bag for something. Soon enough though, she pulled out a small card holder, and from that she pulled out business cards.

"Hold on, what are you doing?" Mitsuhide asked.

"I'm giving them my business cards." Otsuka said, unfazed. "Even I can appreciate that now isn't the best time to conduct a full, proper interview. Though I do wish that we had managed to catch you before you'd left, Amai-san."

The blond-haired man blinked for a moment, before his dark blue eyes filled with comprehension and he smiled at all of us.

."Ah, you're all students-to-be, of course. Your mother mentioned it," he said, gesturing to me. "So you must be…"

"Otsuka Jihara, soon-to-be SHSL Journalist, at your service."

"Oh and I, of course, am Mitsuhide Okita, Ultimate Audiobook Narrator. You've probably heard of my work, Velvet King. Charmed I'm sure, I mean who wouldn't be, when in my presence?"

Otsuka rolled her eyes at him, and I heard Rieka snort, conveying a similar sort of sentiment. Mitsuhide for his part didn't seem too fazed.

"Anyway," Otsuka said. "If you want to get your story out there, then do come to talk to me. I'm sure the police are doing their level best, but sometimes, well, a different perspective is needed.-"

"We don't need your services."

This came from the icy-blue-eyed man. Otsuka blinked, and took a step back.

"Well, if it rests your mind, Hanamura-san, I am not simply looking for a scoop, or to simply spread sensationalist guff. I'm interested in the truth. Nothing more, nothing less. And with two of your children on my team, I would definitely ensure that I am sensitive in handling your case."

"Hold on a minute, two?" Mitsuhide asked.

"Yes, two?" Otsuka turned on him. "You really are stupid sometimes, aren't you? Benbow's mum is here."

She indicated the blond woman and I mentally face-palmed. Of course. I don't know why my brain had not made the connection between what I was seeing and what I knew. I turned to look at Akagi, who hadn't said a word all this time. Neither had Ritsuka or Akemi, but that was a different matter.

"Is that true?" Rieka asked Akagi.

To this, Akagi simply nodded stiffly. Akemi gave him a concerned glance, and then looked to me. I pulled a face, and shrugged, before looking back at Mum.

"It is true," the blond haired woman said. "I did indeed give birth to Mistletoe there. But don't let that stop you doing what needs to be done."

Her mouth twisted, almost a smile, but far too bitter for that. I shivered.

"Mum…" Akagi finally spoke, and his voice sounded strained.

"Too late for that, isn't it? You may as well move on, ruin this little consortium of yours as well."

"Akio, please….you can't…..you can't be wanting to…"

"I just…I just want to help…"

"But you can't, you're just a kid." Mum pleaded, wringing her hands.

"You were children yourself though, when this all happened to you."

Now, apparently, it was Akemi's turn to speak up. She looked at all of them with such sympathy, that something in Eikichi Hanamura's eyes seemed to soften, and he didn't seem so icy.

"Yes, well…I'm sure you all mean well, but we're not talking to the media at the moment, and that does include you, unfortunately."

"Akio, please. I didn't want you all to meet like this…"

You never wanted us to meet at all though, did you? I had no resentment at this realisation, but even so. Will all this distress be worth it in the end? It has to be, right?

"Maybe we'll get to talk another time," Eizo said suddenly. "It would be nice to, particularly with you two. Mai always said that she would have liked us to be part of your lives, back before everything happened."

Eizo gestured to me and to Akagi. I blinked, confused for a moment, before simply opting to smile and nod.

"It's okay, Arisato-san, Amai-san, Anabuki-san, Hanamura-san, Kishinami-san, Jinsai-san, Aozaki-san." Akemi said, just as softly, addressing each of the adults. "We'll leave now."

"We'll what?"

Otsuka gave her a death-stare, but Akemi wasn't deterred. Instead, she continued to smile sweetly as she continued to talk to the adults.

"We'll leave you all in peace. I hope that we haven't caused too much distress."

"No, no, that's fine, I'm sure you meant well, right?" Eizo said.

"Yeah," I said. "We were just going to hang out, we didn't mean to…"

"I'll let you out, then." Mai said quickly, interrupting. "Stay safe, alright, Akio?"

"Yeah. I'll need to come back later, get some things together, will that be alright?" I asked.

"Oh yes, yes."

"Alright then….you stay safe too, alright?"

Then, Mum practically herded us out of the door, and closed it behind us.

…

Akemi

"What the hell was that?"

I looked evenly at Otsuka, pretending that I wasn't rattled by what had been going on in there. I was sure that things would have ended up more puzzling and distressing if we'd stayed longer. None of the survivors were in a state to be able to talk, not when we'd ambushed them like that, no matter how unintentional it had been.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I didn't even get to give them my details!" Otsuka said. "That was my chance."

"I am sure there will be plenty of chances as things go on." I said, conciliatorily. "But that wasn't the time to do it."

"Shouldn't we be more concerned about getting ourselves together?" Ritsuka said. "I thought that was the point of us finding a place to go?"

"Girl has a point." Rieka shrugged. "Let's go to mine, then I can show you my uncle's stuff. It'll have notes about what he thought of each of the survivors. Something for you to target your questioning with."

Rieka crossed her arms briefly, giving a smug little smile. Otsuka narrowed her eyes at her, and for a moment I was sure that she was going to argue this point again. But eventually, she just shrugged.

"Sure, okay, whatever."

…

Friede

I could tell, from the moment Mistletoe and the group of kids who'd no doubt taken pity on him had left, that they wouldn't understand. I hadn't expected Mai to understand, not someone like her, so impossibly soft, who'd wanted nothing more than parenthood even back then. But I'd known she'd at least understand the other side of it-what it meant to lose a child. I think she still did. But…

But all of them, as a whole. I had hoped, beyond all hopes, that they'd get it. That they'd understand how fragile everything was, how fragile we all were. That they'd see it was better this way, that widening the gap between me and him was better, for all of us. At least he wouldn't be killed for what he'd done to Lucius. At least I wouldn't have to…

No, no. I couldn't think of that. I couldn't.

But either way, I'd hoped they'd see. Somehow, miraculously. It was silly of me, but I thought that even though we'd been apart for so long, at the very least we'd be linked by what had happened to us. That it would give…oh, I don't know. Something. Anything. But it didn't matter what it was I'd been hoping for, because it had not happened. All I'd seen on their faces was varying levels of incomprehension. Shock. Judgement.

So, let them judge. Let them.

…

Azami

As the door shut behind the kids, we simply stared at it for a moment. Then, slowly, Mai moved to lock it. Even with her back turned to us, the trembling in her hands was clear.

"Are you alright?" Ayuna asked in concern.

Mai didn't respond for a moment, but then she turned around, and her eyes were shiny with tears.

"I didn't want them to know." She said, simply.

"Know?" Eizo asked, blinking, before he remembered. "About twenty years ago?"

Mai simply nodded at that.

"Yeah. It was one good thing, about the promise. When I was pregnant, with Akio…" here, Mai paused and looked to the door again. "I decided there and then, that nothing bad would ever happen to any of my children. And that included any spill-over from…what happened. I didn't want any of them to be hurt by it. It was bad enough, that we were."

Any of them seemed a strange way of describing two children. But then again, what would I know about that? Perhaps Mai had just been talking generally, about how she'd thought back then when she was about to become a mother for the first time. Still, I could understand what she meant, at the same time as envying her for it. How had she been so sure that she would have been able to make sure they wouldn't have been tainted by it, when surely the entire experience coloured everything, absolutely everything.

"But if he was picked…" Eikichi pointed out.

"I know." Mai shook her head. "I know. But Juro said, that the school itself wasn't actually going to be opened until April, and that at this point there was no way of knowing if the two things would be connected. And Akio…well, I couldn't hide it, the bare facts of it, not after everything hit the news. But I don't think he sees it, the problems. He just thinks it'll be an interesting experience, that he'll get to make new friends. But there's no way of making him understand without making things worse."

"Well, he certainly seemed like he's been making friends already," Eizo said.

"He's a teenager," Eikichi pointed out bluntly. "He's capable of looking things up, after all."

Mai simply bit her lip.

"I know. But…"

"It's okay, I think it's understandable. Key word there being think, considering I don't really know how the whole parenting thing goes." Ayuna shrugged. "Speaking of which…"

All of a sudden, she turned to Friede, who had been standing with Takaaki, both of them completely silent since the kids had left.

"What was that, Heiwa?" she asked. "All that 'mistletoe' stuff and those weird comments. What was that? The kid's your son, right?"

"I thought you said your son died?" Mai asked, distracted momentarily by confusion.

Friede looked over at her, face almost carefully blank.

"That was my other son. My Lucius. This one…well."

At this, her mouth twisted in much the same way it had when she'd been talking to the boy before. We all exchanged looks, confused. But before any of us could find a way of gently probing her, she spoke up.

"He killed him. Akagi…mistletoe… doesn't deserve to be called my son."

"He killed him." Takaaki repeated, raising an eyebrow. "I'm assuming not intentionally, or he wouldn't have been standing there."

"Well…" Friede fidgeted. "Does it matter? The end result is the same. We all know it."

"But…he's still your child." Mai said, uncertainly. "No matter what happened, he's still…"

At the same time, Eizo spoke up:

"That means the kiddo's lost a brother, and he's feeling guilty about it too-"

Friede cut both of them off with a shake of her head.

"He shouldn't have been born. I should have had Lucius, and only him. Then, none of this would have ever happened. If he hadn't been a sibling, then he wouldn't have lost anything. So."

"That's…" Eizo opened his mouth, and then closed it again, looking troubled.

I wanted so badly to move over to him, to say something comforting and kind, but not only did I not know how, all I could do was stare, at the pair of them. Friede, and Mai. There was no way of really knowing, but somehow, it felt like, if I was ever to become a mother, then I'd end up more like Friede. I'd be more like her, unable to even emphasise with her own child's loss despite having experienced loss herself, possibly even because of it. How would I, as someone who had actually lost a sibling, manage to look after a child if they lost their own sibling? There was a little part of me who would have hoped to be like Mai, trying her hardest to protect. But it wouldn't work, would it? Just look at her now. Love alone hadn't been enough to stop the past from coming in at full force.

There was no way that I could have ever become a mother, and no way I could become one now. Not with a legacy like this one. The proof was right in front of me.

"In any case, I'm not surprised he's got himself in with a journalist. Chance to share his sob story, I suppose." Friede shrugged.

"Fre-" Mai cut herself off, shook her head. "Friede-chan."

Friede seemed impervious to the sad look around Mai's eyes, let alone our shock, and the slight baffled disgust I could detect in Ayuna. For a moment, we all just stared at each other, something it felt like we'd been doing a lot. Eventually, I couldn't bear it, and I gathered up the courage to finally go over to Eizo. He looked over and smiled.

"Hey." he squeezed my arm, briefly and comfortingly.

"Hey back at ya." I said, the shape of the words feeling familiar in my mouth.

A routine, maybe, back in those bright, blurry days? Most probably. If I concentrated, really concentrated, perhaps a little more could come back to me…

"That brings up a point. " Eikichi said, startling me.

But maybe not now….

"A point?" I asked, quizzically.

"It's bad enough we'll have to deal with journalists in general, but one who is a soon-to-be-SHSL? And one who has managed to become friends with two children of survivors?"

"That's not their fault though." Eizo pointed out. "We promised to not talk to each other, not completely hold off on having lives. "

"That," Takaaki suddenly spoke up, making me(and some of the others) jump. "is at least 50% debatable."

"Which part?" Eizo asked, non-plussed.

"Fault."

"And what maths, exactly, are you trying to apply to this?" Ayuna asked.

At some point, she'd gone to lean against the banister of Mai's staircase. She smiled for a moment, only the ghost of a smile, and it disappeared, just as quickly.

Takaaki simply looked over meaningfully to Friede, who stared blankly back. Whatever she thought of Takaaki's look, she wasn't going to reveal it. Ayuna gawped at the two of them and then shook her head.

"Right, anyway," she nodded. "We can always bring it up to the police."

"What?"

"They are trying to help us."

"That's a good point!" Eizo said quickly before it could turn into a spat.

"Akio is a good boy," Mai said. "He wouldn't do anything…but I'll ask Juro, to talk to him."

Eikichi simply sighed, and ran his hands through his hair. He shook his head in annoyance, then looked at all of us.

"I think I'm going to go back to the hotel now." He said, crisply. "Shion will be wondering where I am."

"Oh, but you haven't finished lunch!" Mai exclaimed.

Eikichi huffed at this. Mai faltered, then plastered on a smile.

"Could you wait for me to box some of it up, for you and for her? Does your hotel room have a microwave?"

"It does." Eikichi nodded stiffly. "And yes, that's fine. Very…very kind of you."

"Actually…" I looked hesitantly over at Eizo. "Is it possible if we…"

"Do you want to go as well, Azami?"

Of course, Eizo was quick to pick up on what I wanted to ask. I was glad that I didn't have to say the words. Because for all I felt like I was inching towards a point where I could not comfortably stay here, looking at Mai and Friede on opposite ends of the same scale and wondering where I would lie on it, I didn't want to hurt them, either. Before the kids had startled us all, all of this had been approaching something like nice.

"Sorry." I apologised.

"Oh, no, no, that's fine!" Mai smiled. "It's alright! Shall I do everyone else's as well?"

"I mean…" Ayuna let out a breath. "Sure. I mean, we'll definitely be seeing each other a lot more over the course of this investigation, won't we?"

Mai smiled once more at all of us, and turned to head back into the kitchen, when all of a sudden, the landline rang.

BRRRINGGGG.

Mai spun around on her heel, a sudden yet elegant movement, and quickly walked past us to pick it up.

"Hello?"

"Um…should we all still be standing around?" Eizo asked. "Maybe we should go back in…"

He gestured to the dining room/kitchen area. Takaaki simply shrugged.

"Whatever, don't mind really."

"Sure, I suppose." Ayuna agreed.

"Yes, they're here."

These words halted any moves we were going to make. Instead, all of us looked straight at Mai, who was looking at us with wide eyes, gripping the phone tightly.

"They're all here, they were just about to leave, we had lunch…"

"What's happening?" Ayuna mouthed.

"Juro." Mai mouthed back, before returning to listen to what Juro had to say.

After a moment though, her forehead furrowed, and then she looked back up at us, worried and still confused. Or rather, she looked at us in that way, but not at all of us.

Just me and Eizo.